In any situation where cabinets line walls, including but not limited to where the walls involved meet at corners, large amounts of otherwise available space are lost to use because the direction of travel of the drawers from cabinets at both walls travel in ninety degree relationships to one another. This is illustrated in FIG. 1, which is a top view of under-counter cabinets at a corner, in the illustration there shown, in a kitchen. Essentially, a large cube of space is lost every time such as “blind corner” is encountered, with drawers conflicting in line of movement from one wall lining cabinet to another. Where the term “walls” is used here, it is intended to encompass all intersections of flat planes, vertical in relationship to the ground or floor, such that cabinetry involving drawers is placed upon one or both such walls, so that cubic storage space is lost in said blind corner. Additionally, due to the modular square drawers inherent to this system, with modules to be chosen in conformity with site demands, the chosen drawer sizes, most particularly the interior, or “two way slide” drawer, can be size tailored to the size requirements of specific sites, and therefore present the potential for far better space utilization than can be had by any “one size fits all” stacked circular rack configuration.
There have been prior attempts to address the issue of lost space at the ninety degree intersection of cabinets in corners, such as the “Lazy Susan” approach, of a stacked circular storage system. The current subject matter differs from all prior Art in that it allows the continued use of drawers in both cabinets, and the things stored in the otherwise lost space are accessible through a single drawer aperture. This brings several advantages, including more efficient utilization of the otherwise lost space (compared, for example, to a circular approach, being a “round peg” in a considerably larger “square hole.” Other advantages include that the potential for lost items, and stuck items, is greatly reduced, as all remain contained in the involved drawer systems, from the time of placement until the time of removal, and in particular it is not necessary to have a lowered container height so as to accommodate hand access, since, in the within described system, all access to drawer contents, being the first encountered drawers, and those drawers which slide laterally prior to being brought into forward deployment, is from the top. This reduces spillage risk among other advantages.
While it is possible, and here claimed, that the Disclosed subject matter here filed can be used with drawers facing an open area (such that the drawer face, with pull, is visible to the operator), the highest and best use of this system and method is for installation of drawers within cabinets, and the cabinet enclosed variant of the Disclosed subject matter is here-described, without waiver of claims to same effect regarding drawers immediately visible from the interior of the room in which the corner drawers are situated. These and many other benefits of the disclosed subject matter will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.
The following detailed description of preferred embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate specific embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. Other embodiments having different structures and operations do not depart from the scope of the present disclosed subject matter.